Controlled Substances News

June 25, 2025

Top Headlines

Cannabis Use Among Seniors Surges 46% in Two Years--Study Reveals

June 7, 2025 — Cannabis use among older Americans has climbed dramatically, with 7% of adults 65 and older now reporting recent use. This rise isn't just in numbers but also in diversity older users today are more likely to be women, college-educated, and ...

Clinical Research on Psychedelics Gets a Boost from New Study

June 3, 2025 — As psychedelics gain traction as potential treatments for mental health disorders, an international study stands to improve the rigor and reliability of clinical ...

Record High: Study Finds Growing Cannabis Use Among Older Adults

June 3, 2025 — Marijuana use among older adults in the US has reached a new high, with 7 percent of adults aged 65 and over who report using it in the past month, according to a recent ...

Whether It's Smoking or Edibles, Marijuana Can Be Bad for Your Heart, Study Suggests

May 28, 2025 — A new study finds that chronic cannabis use -- whether it's smoked or consumed in edible form -- is associated with significant cardiovascular ...

Nearly Five Million Seized Seahorses Just 'Tip of the Iceberg' in Global Wildlife Smuggling

May 28, 2025 — Close to five million smuggled seahorses worth an estimated CAD$29 million were seized by authorities over a 10-year span, according to a new study that warns the scale of the trade is far larger ...

Tiny Genetic Switch Found to Control Brain Balance and Behavior

May 26, 2025 — Researchers have identified a remarkably small but critical piece of genetic code that helps determine how brain cells connect, communicate, and function. The discovery not only deepens our understanding of how the brain's wiring is built but may ...

A Potential 'Anti-Spice' That Could Dial Down the Heat of Fiery Food

May 22, 2025 — If you've ever regretted ordering a spicy meal, take note: A new study identifying molecules that suppress the heat of chili peppers hints at the possibility of adapting these compounds into an 'anti-spice' condiment for food that's too fiery to ...

Scientists Discover New Way the Brain Learns

May 14, 2025 — Neuroscientists have discovered that the brain uses a dual system for learning through trial and error. This is the first time a second learning system has been identified, which could help explain how habits are formed and provide a scientific ...

Cannabis Study: Legalization Reduces Problematic Consumption, Particularly Among Certain Individuals

May 9, 2025 — Researchers are investigating how the legal supply of cannabis affects consumption and mental health among participants. In a first academic publication, the study team has now reported on the direct ...

AI-Designed DNA Controls Genes in Healthy Mammalian Cells for First Time

May 8, 2025 — A recent study marks the first reported instance of generative AI designing synthetic molecules that can successfully control gene expression in healthy mammalian cells. As a proof-of-concept, the authors of the study asked the AI to design ...

Groundbreaking Device Instantly Detects Dangerous Street Drugs, Offering Hope for Harm Reduction

May 7, 2025 — Groundbreaking device instantly detects dangerous street drugs, offering hope for harm reduction A portable device that instantly detects illicit street drugs at very low concentrations, thereby ...

Evidence Review Raises Concern About Cannabis Use in Pregnancy

May 6, 2025 — A systematic evidence review finds that consuming cannabis while pregnant appears to increase the odds of preterm birth, low birth weight and infant ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:58am EDT

Physical and Psychological Symptoms of Ketamine Abuse Revealed in Research

May 4, 2025 — Ketamine addiction is linked to high levels of physical health problems and psychological consequences, with nearly half of those affected not seeking support or treatment, new research has ...

Study Links Childhood Trauma to Increased Substance Use and Unexpected Effects on Heart Rate and Blood Pressure in Adolescents

May 4, 2025 — Childhood trauma significantly increases the likelihood of engaging in harmful alcohol consumption, smoking and illicit drug use, by the age of ...

A Digestive 'Treasure Chest' Shows Promise for Targeted Drug Treatment in the Gut

May 2, 2025 — A new approach to drug design can deliver medicine directly to the gut in mice at significantly lower doses than current inflammatory bowel disease ...

Mindfulness Therapy Reduces Opioid Craving and Addiction, Study Finds

May 2, 2025 — Researchers found that Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) can help rewire the brain's response to natural healthy pleasure, leading to reduced opioid cravings. The findings suggest that ...

Nearly One-Quarter of E-Scooter Injuries Involved Substance Impaired Riders

May 1, 2025 — About 25% of 7350 patients hospitalized for scooter-related injuries between 2016 and 2021 were using substances such as alcohol, opioids, marijuana and cocaine when injured. The findings underscore ...

First Synthetic 'Mini Prion' Shows How Protein Misfolding Multiplies

Apr. 30, 2025 — Prions transmit their abnormally folded shape onto other proteins. Researchers designed a synthetic fragment of the tau protein that exhibits prion-like behavior. Misfolded tau proteins are the ...

Cinnamon Could Affect Drug Metabolism in the Body

Apr. 24, 2025 — Cinnamon is one of the oldest and most commonly used spices in the world, but a new study indicates a compound in it could interfere with some prescription ...

More Americans Are Using Psilocybin -- Especially Those With Mental Health Conditions, Study Shows

Apr. 22, 2025 — Use of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic chemical found in what is known as 'magic mushrooms,' has increased significantly nationwide since 2019, ...

How Disturbed Signaling Pathways Could Promote Epileptic Seizures

Apr. 16, 2025 — Focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) type 2 is a congenital malformation of the cerebral cortex that is often associated with difficult-to-treat epilepsy. In the affected areas, nerve cells and their layer ...

'Eolving' Opioid Epidemic Across U.S.

Apr. 14, 2025 — The heart of the opioid epidemic that killed 665,341 people in the United States between 2005 and 2020 shifted geographically from the Northwest to the East, according to a new geographical ...

LSD Analogue With Potential for Treating Schizophrenia Developed

Apr. 14, 2025 — Researchers have developed a new, neuroplasticity-promoting drug closely related to LSD that harnesses the psychedelic's therapeutic power with reduced hallucinogenic ...

Brain Study Increases Understanding of What Triggers Drug Use Relapse

Apr. 10, 2025 — Research on the biological basis of addiction has found that the critical epigenetic enzyme histone deacetylase 5 (HDAC5) limits the expression of the gene Scn4b, regulating neuronal activity and ...

Brain Pathway Links Inflammation to Loss of Motivation, Energy in Advanced Cancer

Apr. 10, 2025 — Researchers identified a direct connection between cancer-related inflammation and the loss of motivation characteristic of advanced cancer. In a mouse study, they describe a brain pathway that ...

Simultaneous Alcohol, Cannabis Use May Fuel More Drinking

Apr. 10, 2025 — A recent study found that people may perceive fewer negative effects of alcohol if they are also using cannabis at the same ...

What Links Cannabis Use and Psychosis? Researchers Point to Brain's Dopamine System

Apr. 9, 2025 — A new study found that people with cannabis use disorder (CUD) had elevated dopamine levels in a brain region associated with ...

By Re-Creating Neural Pathway in Dish, Stanford Medicine Research May Speed Pain Treatment

Apr. 9, 2025 — Scientists have rebuilt, in laboratory glassware, the neural pathway that sends information from the body's periphery to the brain, promising to aid research on pain ...

Researchers Identify Safer Pathway for Pain Relief

Apr. 8, 2025 — Scientists have helped identify a novel drug compound that selectively activates pain-altering receptors in the body, offering a potentially safer alternative to conventional pain ...

Perceiving One's Own Body: Babies Sense Their Heartbeat and Breathing

Apr. 7, 2025 — Body signals such as heartbeat and breathing accompany us constantly, often unnoticed as background noise of our perception. Even in the earliest years of life, these signals are important as they ...

PEPITEM Sequence Shows Effects in Psoriasis, Comparable to Steroid Cream

Apr. 3, 2025 — Scientists have shown that a sequence of just three amino acids may reduce the severity of psoriasis, when applied topically in an emollient ...

Medicinal Cannabis Is Linked to Long-Term Benefits in Health-Related Quality of Life, Study Finds

Apr. 2, 2025 — Patients prescribed medicinal cannabis in Australia maintained improvements in overall health-related quality of life (HRQL), fatigue, and sleep disturbance across a one-year period, according to a ...

Researchers Concerned About Rise in Nitrous Oxide Misuse, Deaths in US

Apr. 2, 2025 — Despite a recent Food and Drug Administration warning against inhaling nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, deaths due to misusing the substance are rising in the United ...

PET Imaging Confirms Direct Involvement of Dopamine in Cognitive Flexibility

Mar. 28, 2025 — Scientists have confirmed a neurobiochemical link between dopamine and cognitive flexibility. PET imaging shows that the brain increases dopamine production when completing cognitively demanding ...

Study Identifies Shisa7 Gene as Key Driver in Heroin Addiction

Mar. 26, 2025 — Researchers have found a unique molecular signature and genes in the orbitofrontal cortex associated with heroin-seeking behavior. A preclinical rodent model implicated a gene called Shisa7 as the ...

Scientists Discover Why Obesity Takes Away the Pleasure of Eating

Mar. 26, 2025 — Many obese people report losing pleasure in eating rich foods -- something also seen in obese mice. Scientists have now discovered the reason. Long-term high-fat diets lower levels of neurotensin in ...

AI Can Help Doctors Give Intravenous Nutrition to Preemies

Mar. 25, 2025 — An algorithm that learned from tens of thousands of nutrition prescriptions for premature babies could reduce medical errors and better identify what nutrients the smallest patients ...

Cellular Mechanisms That May Lead to Onset of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Mar. 21, 2025 — New study shows that dysfunction of protective immune cells in GI tract may contribute to onset of inflammation in Crohn's ...

Potential Risk Biomarkers Found for Schizophrenia Resulting from Cannabis Use

Mar. 21, 2025 — A new study has analyzed and compared the fatty acids in the blood of individuals with schizophrenia, of those with cannabis use disorder and of those with both diagnoses, with the aim of shedding ...

Research Into Alcohol Use Disorder: Imagining Future Events Changes Brain to Improve Healthy Decision-Making

Mar. 19, 2025 — Learning to think more about specific events in the future appears to reduce impulsivity, improve decision-making, and shows potential as a therapy for alcohol use disorder, a new study found. The ...

Cannabis Users Face Substantially Higher Risk of Heart Attack

Mar. 18, 2025 — Marijuana is now legal in many places, but is it safe? Two new studies add to mounting evidence that people who use cannabis are more likely to suffer a heart attack than people who do not use the ...

Efficient Development of Drugs With Fewer Mice

Mar. 18, 2025 — New active ingredients such as antibodies are usually tested individually in laboratory animals. Researchers have now developed a technology that can be used to test around 25 antibodies ...